On the whiteboard of a patient's room are instructions on how to call for Chinese translation services.

On the whiteboard of a patient's room are instructions on how to call for Chinese translation services.

Photo: Johnny Hanson :, Chronicle

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A menu in English and Chinese offers Asian cuisine to patients like Ihen Shen, 70, at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital.

A menu in English and Chinese offers Asian cuisine to patients like Ihen Shen, 70, at Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital.

Photo: Johnny Hanson :, Chronicle

Hospital focuses on rebuilding after failed sale

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Nearly two years after it failed to sell its hospital in southwest Houston, the Memorial Hermann Hospital System is rebuilding it with a focus on patients and doctors both.

For the large and growing Asian community served by Memorial Hermann Southwest, there is Vietnamese television, translation services and plans for a Buddhist pagoda. For the aging patient population, there's a separate emergency room that is less hectic.

For the doctors, the 457-bed hospital has created a physicians' council to air grievances and chime in on day-to-day operations.

The efforts are paying off, hospital officials say.

Earnings before taxes and other expenses increased 72 percent, or $2.2 million, through the first 11 months of the current fiscal year. Officials declined to disclose net earnings figures.

"We're not where we once were or where we want to be, but we've definitely turned a corner," said George Gaston, who became CEO of the hospital shortly after the sale was called off. "We think we've hit bottom and are definitely moving in the right direction."

Hospital's culture

To turn the hospital's finances around, Gaston said, he first has to focus on its culture.

At the time of the proposed sale to the Harris County Hospital District in 2009, many doctors surprised about the choice to sell signed a petition opposing it and threatened to leave if it went through.

"I knew it would take some effort and time to rebuild the trust of the physicians and the community, but we are getting there," Gaston said.

Doctors given a voice

A doctors' council is key to building trust at any hospital because "doctors only listen to doctors," said Betsy Gelb, a marketing and management professor at theUniversity of Houston's Bauer College of Business. "And of course, the other issue is reality. If you did this once, are you going to do it again?"

To give doctors a voice in hospital decisions, Gaston started a council of about 15 physicians who would give input on operations and staffing choices.

Dr. Owen Maat, head of endoscopy services at the hospital, said he feels he and others now have the ear of the new administration, which seems more focused on customer service. When he wanted to use a new technology that wasn't reimbursed by many insurance carriers or Medicare at the time, he said, Gaston approved it and told him they would worry about costs later so the hospital could offer the latest technology.

However, Maat said, some doctors are still wary of the hospital system, which pushed for selling Memorial Hermann Southwest to the public health care district.

"There continues to be a smoldering distrust of what goes on at the corporate level and will continue for the foreseeable future," he said. "Trust is built one brick at a time, so it may subside over time."

Needs of the area

Doctors also had input in the new programs geared toward the area's growing aging population as well as Chinese and Vietnamese communities.

The hospital estimates the 55-and-older population in its primary service area will grow 29 percent, to about 180,000 by 2015. In the past year and a half, the hospital dedicated two wings as well as a separate emergency room and behavioral care unit for older patients.

It also opened a 20-bed Asian section that offers interpreters, a specialized menu and Asian television programming. A physician is also arranging for a statue of Buddha and a pagoda to be placed in a courtyard to replace a previous meditation room for Buddhist patients and their families.

A Vietnamese soap opera played in Chuong Tran's room recently as he talked to his doctor through an interpreter.

"I like to hear someone speaking my language," said the 84-year-old patient, who was admitted after complaining of weakness.

The hospital projects the Asian population in its service area will grow 20 percent to nearly 200,000 by 2015. It's studying the possibility of similar services for Hispanic patients as well, Gaston said.

Changing and evolving

The new programs are also a way for the hospital to reconnect with the community and assure its needs are met, Gaston noted.

"As southwest Houston evolves and changes, we realize as a hospital we have to change and evolve as well," he said.

Many community groups had opposed the sale of the hospital two years ago, worrying about security, the deal's potential effect on nearby real estate values and the possibility the hospital quality would decline.

Gaston said he set up meetings with various community groups to let them know it was staying for the long term and needs their support.

"We want to make this a welcoming place for physicians and staff, and our patients first and foremost," he said. "We're starting to see that take hold."